super hard new difficulty or not?...what should be known
Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 9:06 pm
much can be said and done to overcome the horrid situation of near impossible monsters when low levels die off. first and foremost, let us deal with what happens when one is in that situation.
have a freaking vorpal power up on hand. now, know that vorpal works on one projectile, meaning, for instance one of the flak bits or one shot of the shock rifle. weapons that spurt out many projectile at rapid fire do the best, for the 1% vorpal chance increases since each projectile counts as its each unit. this is why it is so nice to use weapons like combat shotgun (primary fire best), minigun, mini ssr, mp5 and regular flak, and razor bomb primary fire if one depends on vorpal effects. best vorpal gun is combat shotgun, and i use primary fire because vorpal and pullforwards/propulsion kick in so nicely in wave 1-16. i switch to alternate fire as i play through the waves when i come across the nonvampable type enemies....and why i kick ass with gun always even with someone else usng the combat too but lacking the knowledge and/or strategy to get maximum effect fromm this gun
hiding in strategic locations of corners or heights and being very cautious is a must if it possible to do. if you try to jump and dodge around many turbo laser dragons, i am sorry, noone can avoid them very long. back into doorways, inlets, etc where you can shoot to enemies following you, watch radar to see enemies and where they are realtive to you in case other groups may flank you from the other side. if your gun is strong , has splash damage or has bouncy projectiles, aim for the ground where the door/passage leads to you. if you don't have such a weapon type, there is less potential to strive unless it is the combat shotgun, where you just aim the alt fire death mist in the path enemies will be rounding the corner to get to you.
in the near hopeless situation, keep mindful of health and how well you seem to vamp off enemies you know to be vampable. if you aren't getting much return, get the heck to a safer spot. even with vampirism level 10 and combat shotgun, i have had moments this past weekend where that barely vamps off vagaries. self healing will do better.
anyhow, as for the topic and playing much this weekend, people choose maps lately now where there are good hide spots, and if low levels stay alive, especially those level 50 or below, it can be an easy as heck map. i suppose now i give my full support to this change of diffculty.
now as for strategy to avoid the hell situation, giving low levels all kinds of good stuff is relatively pointless since they will die so quick if they try to fight, but it never hurts to give them something that they can spay and pray with and possible accumulate some experience. essentially, if you higher levels (above 150) want to win a map, you should make the low levels stow away in a bunker or nook, and convince them their role in winning and getting the 1000 points. protecting them can help, and the best to do this are mid-high level players like those 150-180. those dedicated to the medic way would do their part best to remain in these key positions to heal those in need. good experience in your method, as amy has told me numerically on some maps..it is impressive how much max medic role can get on some maps.
setting up bunkers and walls are important to do the moment you get an artifact to do so. attempt to place them at key points that can protect with map features that can't be destroyes like walls and pillars, or simply block off entry ways for enemies to make a spot more fortified. low levels need to be inside bunkers, but bthey must e careful not to shoot guns that can splash or reflect projectiles back if they have no heal.
you then must consider the powerhouse players of the map. you will know who these people are by being in score as number 1 and 2 often. like in a mmorpg, these players are the very aggressive ones who try to kill *everything* and set themselves up to take enemy fire in the desire to bring the most damage to the foe in as little time as possible. these people include cadmium, crayola, airrman, oznog, shakalaka, reyalp, border, cha-chi, guardian, and others i may not recall now. and yes, me! we are the "tanks" of the monster madness server. giving a high level a globe (useless as hell to just about any low level, period) to one could be the act that saves the map later one. giving ice rune can be the same, for this artifact only can be truly made use of by someone with maxed adrenaline and adrenal surge 2; 100 adr and no adr skill makes it last 6 seconds or so, regardless of the enemy horde around, which will likely kill the low level user before the adr runs out!
now, i had a little debate with someone on a map today when i said that truly, if someone wants the map to be won, other players wishing to win badly should ask these tanks if they have necessary powerups like instagib shields, damage 5's, protection 5's, titan rock shields, etc..the stuff to toughen the skin better. it may even be wise to offer a very good summoned weapon to such a player who is still using an mp5 or bio rifle or the like than hoard it for oneself and not be able to use it much.
i was met with much objection, criticism, and anger by a fellow player as i told my view of the tanks here, thinking i was speaking with sole ego so large, everyone should provide for me. she doesn't like me, but thats another thing altogether <,,< anyhow, us players know enemy selection strategy well, we are the ones who go after redeemer enemies, lucifers, wands, laser rifle enemies, and try to destroy nukes even if it puts us at risk to get to them. we take out the enemy hardhotters to make casualties as few as possible. anyhow, i will go after almost every wand, regardless whether i have instagib shield on or not. the map today, i had no such shield and 3 wands appeared wave 12. people were getting picked off fast and i wanted to kill them in lime arena map (very open to beam hits) so i avoided all enemies and went for the wands. i got one, went to another, resurrected, went back to kill it, a third nearby got me imemdiately after i got its wand brother! i died and lost good artifacts i was saving for later use(artifact use is important in certain times, a strategy section to come later). if i had even one insta shield, we would not have waited 15 mins for darfyddi (i believe it was him) to use mp5 fire mine from the top. but he did it eventually and was proud of his effort :} and in the end, map was won.
seriously, teamwork goes both ways..nurturing the weaker, lower level people and setting up the tanks to do what they do best. i know so many criticize the enemy hogs who kill "your kills", but we just do what we do. many a time i save someone from 12 army guys surrounding them, and with my combat shotgun, quickly run next to them and aim to ground to heal them and myself, then move on. medic and tank together..good combo, baby!
so yes, enemy selection is important. if you can fight a wand, fight it. if you feel you can kill a deemer-spamming SOB, do it! if you see a nuke smith/army guy prancing about, go for that jerk so you can get him out and the nuke he uses.
so yes, this is my strategy post on the "harder" new setting for the server. but in all, it is difficult to coordinate anything, especially low levels wanting to go and kill like the tanks they see get the glory. admittably, past level 25, there is no way i am hiding unless things are near hopeless for the whole team...it is not fun or ever has for me if i knew i could do something. regardless, this is how to succeed now. also, my biggest fault while playing is not asking often for powerups i need..for the pride in me wants to get them on my own and not bother anybody else to find me or look out. but still, proper communciation is a must with this situation now.
in the end, us real high levels aren't going to stop playing to keep average enemy level down, and lower levels can't pull a map on their own. we also can't vote for every mixer, bunker007 or complex007..etc etc map where it is either so big enemies are very spread out and easier to run from or kill, or there is a near 100% protection rate (except nukes) cage to hide in
this new difficulty and these maps with handicaps are adding a further increase to overplayed maps. i am here for fun and variety, not for the same thing again and again and again and *flops and spazzes!* @,,@
anyways, this is all i have perceived and suggest as strategy after this weekend's experience of the new difficulty change. may we kill better together! :}
have a freaking vorpal power up on hand. now, know that vorpal works on one projectile, meaning, for instance one of the flak bits or one shot of the shock rifle. weapons that spurt out many projectile at rapid fire do the best, for the 1% vorpal chance increases since each projectile counts as its each unit. this is why it is so nice to use weapons like combat shotgun (primary fire best), minigun, mini ssr, mp5 and regular flak, and razor bomb primary fire if one depends on vorpal effects. best vorpal gun is combat shotgun, and i use primary fire because vorpal and pullforwards/propulsion kick in so nicely in wave 1-16. i switch to alternate fire as i play through the waves when i come across the nonvampable type enemies....and why i kick ass with gun always even with someone else usng the combat too but lacking the knowledge and/or strategy to get maximum effect fromm this gun
hiding in strategic locations of corners or heights and being very cautious is a must if it possible to do. if you try to jump and dodge around many turbo laser dragons, i am sorry, noone can avoid them very long. back into doorways, inlets, etc where you can shoot to enemies following you, watch radar to see enemies and where they are realtive to you in case other groups may flank you from the other side. if your gun is strong , has splash damage or has bouncy projectiles, aim for the ground where the door/passage leads to you. if you don't have such a weapon type, there is less potential to strive unless it is the combat shotgun, where you just aim the alt fire death mist in the path enemies will be rounding the corner to get to you.
in the near hopeless situation, keep mindful of health and how well you seem to vamp off enemies you know to be vampable. if you aren't getting much return, get the heck to a safer spot. even with vampirism level 10 and combat shotgun, i have had moments this past weekend where that barely vamps off vagaries. self healing will do better.
anyhow, as for the topic and playing much this weekend, people choose maps lately now where there are good hide spots, and if low levels stay alive, especially those level 50 or below, it can be an easy as heck map. i suppose now i give my full support to this change of diffculty.
now as for strategy to avoid the hell situation, giving low levels all kinds of good stuff is relatively pointless since they will die so quick if they try to fight, but it never hurts to give them something that they can spay and pray with and possible accumulate some experience. essentially, if you higher levels (above 150) want to win a map, you should make the low levels stow away in a bunker or nook, and convince them their role in winning and getting the 1000 points. protecting them can help, and the best to do this are mid-high level players like those 150-180. those dedicated to the medic way would do their part best to remain in these key positions to heal those in need. good experience in your method, as amy has told me numerically on some maps..it is impressive how much max medic role can get on some maps.
setting up bunkers and walls are important to do the moment you get an artifact to do so. attempt to place them at key points that can protect with map features that can't be destroyes like walls and pillars, or simply block off entry ways for enemies to make a spot more fortified. low levels need to be inside bunkers, but bthey must e careful not to shoot guns that can splash or reflect projectiles back if they have no heal.
you then must consider the powerhouse players of the map. you will know who these people are by being in score as number 1 and 2 often. like in a mmorpg, these players are the very aggressive ones who try to kill *everything* and set themselves up to take enemy fire in the desire to bring the most damage to the foe in as little time as possible. these people include cadmium, crayola, airrman, oznog, shakalaka, reyalp, border, cha-chi, guardian, and others i may not recall now. and yes, me! we are the "tanks" of the monster madness server. giving a high level a globe (useless as hell to just about any low level, period) to one could be the act that saves the map later one. giving ice rune can be the same, for this artifact only can be truly made use of by someone with maxed adrenaline and adrenal surge 2; 100 adr and no adr skill makes it last 6 seconds or so, regardless of the enemy horde around, which will likely kill the low level user before the adr runs out!
now, i had a little debate with someone on a map today when i said that truly, if someone wants the map to be won, other players wishing to win badly should ask these tanks if they have necessary powerups like instagib shields, damage 5's, protection 5's, titan rock shields, etc..the stuff to toughen the skin better. it may even be wise to offer a very good summoned weapon to such a player who is still using an mp5 or bio rifle or the like than hoard it for oneself and not be able to use it much.
i was met with much objection, criticism, and anger by a fellow player as i told my view of the tanks here, thinking i was speaking with sole ego so large, everyone should provide for me. she doesn't like me, but thats another thing altogether <,,< anyhow, us players know enemy selection strategy well, we are the ones who go after redeemer enemies, lucifers, wands, laser rifle enemies, and try to destroy nukes even if it puts us at risk to get to them. we take out the enemy hardhotters to make casualties as few as possible. anyhow, i will go after almost every wand, regardless whether i have instagib shield on or not. the map today, i had no such shield and 3 wands appeared wave 12. people were getting picked off fast and i wanted to kill them in lime arena map (very open to beam hits) so i avoided all enemies and went for the wands. i got one, went to another, resurrected, went back to kill it, a third nearby got me imemdiately after i got its wand brother! i died and lost good artifacts i was saving for later use(artifact use is important in certain times, a strategy section to come later). if i had even one insta shield, we would not have waited 15 mins for darfyddi (i believe it was him) to use mp5 fire mine from the top. but he did it eventually and was proud of his effort :} and in the end, map was won.
seriously, teamwork goes both ways..nurturing the weaker, lower level people and setting up the tanks to do what they do best. i know so many criticize the enemy hogs who kill "your kills", but we just do what we do. many a time i save someone from 12 army guys surrounding them, and with my combat shotgun, quickly run next to them and aim to ground to heal them and myself, then move on. medic and tank together..good combo, baby!
so yes, enemy selection is important. if you can fight a wand, fight it. if you feel you can kill a deemer-spamming SOB, do it! if you see a nuke smith/army guy prancing about, go for that jerk so you can get him out and the nuke he uses.
so yes, this is my strategy post on the "harder" new setting for the server. but in all, it is difficult to coordinate anything, especially low levels wanting to go and kill like the tanks they see get the glory. admittably, past level 25, there is no way i am hiding unless things are near hopeless for the whole team...it is not fun or ever has for me if i knew i could do something. regardless, this is how to succeed now. also, my biggest fault while playing is not asking often for powerups i need..for the pride in me wants to get them on my own and not bother anybody else to find me or look out. but still, proper communciation is a must with this situation now.
in the end, us real high levels aren't going to stop playing to keep average enemy level down, and lower levels can't pull a map on their own. we also can't vote for every mixer, bunker007 or complex007..etc etc map where it is either so big enemies are very spread out and easier to run from or kill, or there is a near 100% protection rate (except nukes) cage to hide in
this new difficulty and these maps with handicaps are adding a further increase to overplayed maps. i am here for fun and variety, not for the same thing again and again and again and *flops and spazzes!* @,,@
anyways, this is all i have perceived and suggest as strategy after this weekend's experience of the new difficulty change. may we kill better together! :}